A Remeberance of Things Past

Dear Friends,

I have become obsessed with Text Twist. Thanks a freaking a lot Alison. I mean, really unhealthy amounts of text twist, three hours the other day. I already do no work, but this is really cutting into my staring out the window time. I also enjoy internet chess against the computer, which I always lose and BBCiPLayer which lets me watch BBC shows. My current favorites are Lark Rise to Candleford, which is about a girl from a small hamlet in Oxfordshire circa 1890 who moves to the larger town of Candleford to work in the post office and all the intrigue of small town life. It is ridiculously amazing. There is a sub plot where the post mistress, yes-that is right, I’m pretty sure the writes took some licence with the original book, is basically in love with the local squire who has a very pretty but reserved wife who is unable to adjust from London to the small town charm of Candleford. Larua, that central character also divides her affections between the said squire’s grounds keeper, who is really cute!, and a farm boy from her home hamlet. Ah, such is life. The other show I watch is called EastEnders, which is this British soap that has been on for like 20 years. The plots are ridicucles, but it is ever so diverting and it is on four times a week so it keeps me occucpied. Also, last night I watched a new show called ‘The Last Enemy’ which is set a few years in the future when Britian is on the verge of becoming a police state because of all its CCTV cameras and extensive knowledge of people’s lives. It is like 1984 on crack. Also, the protagonist is a reclusive mathematician. Ergo, he is awkward and therefore I would of course need to watch it.

My birthday: As you know, I am old. And the day that I become older officially for book keeping purposes was this past Tuesday. Thank you for my phone call Alison, it made me very happy. To celebrate, in a country that doesn’t give a damn about such things as age limits for alcohol consumption, I went to a pub with people from Georgetown and USC that I am friends with here and I ate a hamburger because it was on sale for five pounds and came with a beer. I had a Stella. There was merriment and singing and discussions of a trip most of them had been on to Belgium the previous weekend, followed by complaining about the British academic system for awhile. Afterwards, I went with Anita, who is from USC but originally from Cleveland (woot woot), Vinod and Teddy to get drinks at the Waldorf, and by drinks I mean drink. I had a Manhattan, it was very strong, but I think a good first drink choice. Then I went home called my parents and went to sleep. Perhaps I would have done crazier things had I not been forced to awaken at 5:30 to write a paper on Kant that same morning. Upon reflection, this seems rather far fetched. I wish you both had been here with me to celebrate, it was really just not the same. What did you all do for Mer’s birthday?

In other news...about three weeks ago, I went to Rye, in Sussex for the day with fellow Georgetownian Sarah. We boarded the train at London Bridge which is conveniently near my abode and having purchased a liter of orange juice and four pain au chocolate traveled for an hour to Ashofr international, where we changed trains and then arrived in Rye around 11 in the morning. Rye is utterly charming. It is a small town, around 6000 inhabitants and has perhaps a dozen streets in the town center. The houses are all small, with low doors and tiny windows. It is near the sea so people will have model ships in front of their curtains so as you walk along the alleys there will be these small houses with shutters framing the windows and model boats sitting in front of lace. While we were there, we visited their church which lets you climb up into the bell tower and then go outside to see the country vistas. Now, as you are aware, I really freaking hate heights, but the ascent was entirely worth it as you could see the ocean and the surrounding fields and boats sitting in the river from the top. Also, to get up, you had to go through some really really narrow passages. Really narrow, they seemed almost to be hewn out of the stonework, like 800 years of water damage had carved them from the masonry. I do enjoy old churches a great deal, learning about which parts were build when. It is strange to think that people living such a long time ago were in the same building, saw the same things you are seeing, or rather aspects of what you are seeing. So I wonder, which part of this was here at which time. What did these people think about the stonework, when did this glass get put in. Etc.

We also visited Rye castle, which is about the size of Dalghern chapel. It may actually be smaller. You get to see two stories and the basement, but it is mainly one large room on each floor and the three small, really small, you can’t lay down in them small, tower rooms, while the fourth houses the stair case. I learned that stairs in castles wind clock wise so that it is easier to defend them if you are on the second floor because there is a disadvantage for right handed people when they climb that way. Also, all of the steps are uneven so that in the dark, if you are unfamiliar with the stairs, you will trip while trying to climb them. I thought this was pretty cool.

After the town adventures of Rye, which consisted of some wandering, the purchase of batteries and a visit to a yarn shop, we headed out to walk to the sea, because I less than three the ocean a lot. It was allegedly 2 miles away. But there is no way that this is possibly that close. We found some trail that wandered along a canal for a bit, say a man fishing and then for 20 minutes no one, until a couple came a long walking their dog (Very English). We chose this particular path because it walked alongside Cumberland castle which is the ruins of a building built by Henry VIII to defend England from France. We could see it for our entire journey and it was very large and was probably very nice but it is really just ruins now. Unfortunately being winter, it was closed so we just circled it, peering in through the window openings and pretending to scale the walls. We then proceeded on our journey to the sea…

Only we couldn’t find it. We walked for about 20 more minutes till we came to some houses and then took the way we thought was to the sea, but it was very muddy, and there were horse tracks, and we opened fences, and I’m not sure we were supposed to be there…So we turned around and tried to find another path. As we walked, be passed Teddy and Patches: Rescue Ponies, we are not sure if they rescue people, or are rescued as the sign was only adamant about not feeding them. We then, after asking a British woman who was climbing over a fence to take her dog for a walk, found a road to take us to the sea. This took us at least 20 minutes to walk down and then finally we arrived at the English Channel, only to find it closed. Yes, it was closed. There is a mulit-mile fence lining the water. We then turned around and headed to Winchealsea, which is the smallest town in England to finish our day.

On our walk back we went through Dimmsdale, a la Scarlet Letter, which has about three houses and a man with a power drill who said ‘hello’ to us, we walked a bit faster after this. However, by this time, it was 4 pm, and near as we were to Winchelsea, we decided that instead of climing the giant hill to get to it, it really is a rather large ascent, we should walk back to Rye and get some food as we had only had orange juice and pain au chocolate all day.

So we walked along the road until we say 1066 Heritage trail which according to our map was a path back to Rye and proceeded on our way as the sun neared its setting behind us. However, after about five minutes of a legitimate trail with many tracks of human and dog, there ceased to be any trail and we found ourselves in the middle of a field. So we kept walking through fields, avoiding sheep, finding a bridge now and then to carry us over the irrigation ditchces, but on one occasion having to back track until the water level was low enough for us to jump safely over. Oh, I also slipped and became slightly muddy previously to this, it was rather unpleasant, but highly amusing. So we walked across fields, walking fast so that we wouldn’t loose all the light and be stuck in the middle of field in the dark. Also, we may have been trespassing as there were definitely sheep near us at points during our sojourn. We arrived at the outskirts of Rye just as the sun had set and then having checked the train schedule, got a bite to eat a local fish and chips place before training back to London.

I also did no reading this weekend. You would both be so proud. Tomorrow I go to Wales to go horseback riding and I shall write you of that when I return. Love to you both, Eleanor